Green Fleet

City of Sacramento to Test Wireless EV Charging

December 17, 2012
• by Staff

SACRAMENTO, CA – The City of Sacramento, Calif., has joined the Evatran Apollo Trial Program to test wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging technology on its own EVs. Sacramento currently has five Chevrolet Volts, and it expects four Ford Focus electric vehicles to be delivered soon. Keith Leech, fleet manager, said seven of the nine units were sourced using prepaid lease financing for the City to obtain the $7,500 federal tax credit for each as well as California Air Resources Board (ARB) rebates to buy down the total lease cost.

The City joins the previously announced list of Apollo participants including industry leaders such as Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, Duke Energy, Google, DTE Energy, and The Hertz Corporation, according to a release from Evatran.

Evatran’s Plugless Power technology, based on the principle of magnetic induction, was developed to allow electric vehicle drivers to avoid the repetitive process of physically plugging in and unplugging their EVs on a daily basis. Previous trial participants have commented on the convenience of the wireless charging system and the effortless lifestyle it affords an EV driver, according to the company.

Evatran plans to have more than installations as part of the Apollo Trial Program. The partners will trial the second generation systems for three months.

This is the second phase of the program, designed to confirm that the company’s production design is ready for release. The installations in the second phase of the program include:

Four stations installed on Nissan LEAFs and Chevrolet Volts in California from the City of Sacramento and LADWP to Google in Silicon Valley

Four stations installed in cold-weather climates like Detroit with Apollo partners Bosch Automotive Service Solutions and DTE Energy on Chevrolet Volts

Five stations installed on Chevy Volts and Nissan LEAF in the Southeast with City of Raleigh, Duke Energy in Charlotte, and Clemson University in South Carolina

One station installed in the Northeast at The Hertz Corporation Headquarters

One station installed in Washington, D.C. with the Electric Drive Transportation Association

The new vehicles will annually consume approximately 36.8 million gallons of clean propane autogas, and many will be displacing fuels with higher emissions like gasoline and diesel, according to the Propane Education & Research Council.